e‑Surveying and Respondent Behaviour: Insights from the Public Procurement Field

Abstract

e‑Surveys have emerged as among the most widely used methods of collecting primary data from firms. In spite of their prevalence we know relatively little about how firms react to them. This paper takes a closer look at respondent behaviour during the e‑survey process by analysing data from 4747 suppliers. Among the key findings are a low rate of response, fast response times and a preference for submitting responses between 08.00 and 11.00. In terms of survey completeness, respondents answered 35 of the 48 survey questions, on average, and spent approximately seven minutes doing so. The time of day at which the response was submitted and the date of response was significant in explaining survey completeness. So too was firm size and nationality. Notably, the smaller the supplier the more complete the survey response. The implications of these findings for e‑surveying in the management field are discussed within.